Auckland roading funds cut in half

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Money to build new highways in Auckland has almost halved in three years, worsening traffic jams and stifling growth, a lobby group says.

A study of Auckland transport projects shows a sharp drop in the amount of money the region has received from the national roading fund - even though the fund has more cash to give away.

Auckland roading contractors say the lack of work has forced them to lay off staff or seek contracts overseas, and businesses say the traffic jams are throttling economic growth.

But the chief executive of Transfund says the reason it is giving less cash to Auckland is that major projects are still working through the resource consent and planning stages.

The study, by the Auckland Business Forum, shows that finance for road maintenance and improvement in the region dropped in the past three years from $212 million to $162 million.

The money for roading capital works dropped by 45 per cent, or $61 million.

Yet during the same period, the roading fund had a 10 per cent increase in the amount of money it was able to allocate throughout the country.

Contractors Federation chief John Pfahlert said his members had noticed a drop in the amount of road-building work they were able to get in Auckland.

Some contractors were laying off staff or seeking work overseas.

One long-time contractor, W. Stevenson and Sons, is shutting down its road-building division.

Its manager of construction, Warren Higgs, said Auckland-based contractors were finding life "pretty tough" because of the lack of work.

Many projects that had been expected to be ready now were yet to come on-line.

The general manager of property operations at Foodstuffs Auckland, Gordon Davies, said the new figures were appalling for businesses and the general public.

Traffic jams were affecting deliveries to supermarkets. He predicted Auckland transport would be a key election issue.

NZ Automobile Association spokesman George Fairbairn said the Government needed to take immediate and decisive action on Auckland roading.

Other regions also needed more money for roads and the economy and road safety were at stake.

Business Forum chairman Michael Barnett said the funding drop revealed in his report showed a scandalous lack of political will at Government level to solving Auckland's transport woes.

He blamed Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Transport Minister Mark Gosche.

Mr Barnett said Auckland had one-third of the nation's population and deserved one-third of the money, but was getting $100 million less than that.

A spokeswoman for Dr Cullen said he would not comment and referred calls to Mr Gosche.

Mr Gosche said the forum's figures were distorted by the end of funding for the Alpurt Northern Motorway extension project and the time needed to get new projects started.

%The Government accepted there %was a need to tackle Auckland's problems, but "unfortunately there is a lead-in time of five, six, seven years in Auckland".

"We cannot press the button and get things going overnight".

Mr Gosche said Aucklanders would start to see a surge in road building during the next 18 months.

His office released figures showing the Government had increased funds for Auckland's public transport by $3 million a year since 1998 and had pumped $75 million into Auckland rail.

Transfund said it accepted there had been a drop in money for capital works in Auckland.

But chief executive Martin Gummer said the region's many road projects were still in the planning and resource consent stages.

Mr Gummer mentioned State Highway 18, State Highway 20, Spaghetti Junction, the North Shore Busway and St Marys Bay as major projects that would be eligible for construction funds.

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